By Michael Elkins
Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) announced Friday that the company has named three new board directors, including the chief of hedge fund ValueAct Capital, amid pressure from activist investors for better cost control and a management shakeup.
The software company appointed Chief Executive of hedge fund ValueAct Capital Mason Morfit, Mastercard Finance Chief Sachin Mehra and former Chief Executive of Carnival Corp Arnold Donald to its board.
In addition, Sanford Robertson and Alan Hassenfeld have notified the Company that they do not intend to stand for re-election at Salesforce’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
“We’re excited to welcome Arnold, Sachin and Mason to the Salesforce Board,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce. “As highly respected business leaders, they each bring valuable experience to further enhance and balance the diverse skills on the Board and advance our value creation initiatives. We look forward to benefiting from their expertise and insights as Salesforce continues to drive durable top- and bottom-line growth and build on our position as the world’s #1 CRM.”
“The addition of these three new independent directors to our Board demonstrates Salesforce’s commitment to ongoing refreshment in action,” said Robin Washington, Lead Independent Director of the Board. “Arnold’s proven cross-industry leadership experience, Sachin’s expansive financial, technology and operational expertise and Mason’s investor perspective and record of helping public companies build sustainable, long-term value will further strengthen our Board’s depth of expertise and diversity of thought. Ensuring we have the right Board in place to guide the Company’s strategy and oversee its ambitious goals continues to be a top priority. Over the past year, we have benefited from the valuable input of our investors and look forward to continuing that dialogue as we drive value for Salesforce shareholders.”
According to sources familiar with the matter, there are at least four activist investors at Salesforce including Elliott, Starboard Value, Jeff Ubben's Inclusive Capital and ValueAct, the firm Ubben founded, and which is now run by Mason Morfit.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that, multimillion-dollar investor, Elliott Management Corp plans to nominate several director candidates.
Shares of CRM are up 0.14% in early trading on Friday.